GUILDERLAND — Two abandoned town sites will be cleaned up soon if owners follow through on their applications to the planning board. One, an old garden shop on Carman Road, will become apartments. The other, a lot near the old Bumblebee Diner on Western Avenue, will become a lawn and garden store.
The planning board approved a request by Sable Terrace Development to build three duplex buildings and two single-family homes at 3711 Carman Road. Surveryor Lynn Sipperly of L. Sipperly and Associates, in Latham, said that the 3.6-acre lot will require a "detention area and recharge basin to detain water on this site."

Sipperly also said that the project will include a storm-water system to be installed on Rainbow Drive. The site is at the corner of Carman Road and Rainbow Drive. Town water and sewer are available there, but the project will add one manhole to service the duplex at the end of the site.
Sipperly said that if a "greater than a 100-year storm" occurred, the retention basin would overflow to the storm-water system on Rainbow Drive.
The town will own the retention basin. Town-designated engineer Don Fletcher, of Barton and Laguidice, told the board that the reason for the storm-water system is to give relief "as a safeguard to remove the water, if needed."

The basin is designed to recharge water into the soil, Sipperly said. The basin will have a grass bottom, and will be fenced according to town requirements.
The board questioned the height of the proposed six-foot chain-link fence, but Fletcher said that the town’s highway superintendent, Todd Gifford, suggested the fence abide by new laws that will go into effect next year. "You probably could get away with not having a fence," Fletcher said.
The board suggested that a four-foot fence would suffice, but board Chairman Stephen Feeney referred to Gifford and said, "He’s responsible for maintaining it, so whatever he wants. I will leave it up to Todd."
Sipperly said that the project will construct a tie-in sidewalk up along Carman Road to Rainbow Drive. Feeney suggested that he continue the sidewalk around the corner to the edge of the development "to the logical terminus."

"Big-boy toy store"

Timothy Alund, the owner of Farmer Feed and Tractor Supply in Schagticoke, received board approval to open a second store at 2339 Western Ave. Alund told the board that his Schagticoke store draws customers from Voorheesville and Guilderland, so he decided to open a store here.
He plans to run the store similarly to his first one, with equipment stored indoors with climate controls. A $60,000 tractor should not be outside, getting cruddy and dirty, Alund said. "It’s high-end stuff," he said. "We’re a high-end homeowner-landscape situation."

Alund said that the original store caters to northern farmers, selling cattle and horse feed, and includes a barn with miniature animals for families to see.
"This is like a store. The other one’s like a hang-out place," Alund said. "It’s a big-boy toy store, is what it is."

He said he would landscape the site and put in as much grass as possible.

Alund told the board that he wants to use a neighbor’s easement to consolidate the access point, to avoid a narrow entrance onto Western Avenue.

Other business

In other business, the planning board:
— Gave final approval to Richard Capron for his proposal to subdivide 51 acres on Curry Road into three lots. One lot will be six acres, and another will be two acres. The remainder will have two points of frontage on Curry Road, Capron said. Capron said that two of the lots are under contract for sale, and that the Albany Pine Bush Commission is "one interested party" in the sale of the third;

— Approved James Ryer’s proposal to move Techniconsults, his computer consulting business, across the street from his Cosimo’s Plaza location to 1775 Western Ave. The new site was formerly a real estate office, Ryer said.
Board member Paul Caputo said that he wants Guilderland applicants to be "treated equitably."
"What’s the difference between this turnkey [special use permit] and the previous SUP for this site"" Caputo said.

Caputo has noted at previous meetings that some turnkey SUPs are granted without coming before the board, and that others are not.

Feeney said that, if the zoning officer makes the decision that the site does not need planning approval, then the SUP is granted. Donald Cropsey is the town’s zoning officer.

Ryer said that his business keeps little inventory onsite and that he is moving to a smaller space to reduce his overhead; and

— Heard a request from Brian Clark to open a martial-arts studio in the former Altamont Internal Medicine building at 2093 Western Ave. A day spa uses the upper floor, and the studio would be housed on the ground floor, Clark said.